MIROSLAV RAICHL

(born in Náchod on February 2nd 1930)


between 1949 and 1953 studied composition under Pavel Bořkovec at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, staying on at the school for the next three years as a postgraduate student of Václav Dobiáš. After completing his studies, he worked for a short time in the Czech Music Fund, between 1958 and 1962 held the post of creative secretary of the composers' section of the Union of Czechoslovak Composers, taught at the Prague Conservatoire from 1965 to 1970 and since 1980 has been teaching at the Conservatoire in Pardubice.

Miroslav Raichl's first major success as a composer came with the performance of his Second Symphony at the Festival of New Symphonic Music, held in Prague in 1961, and with the inclusion of that composition in a representative gramophone record series, known as "Musica nova bohemica et slovaca". Passages filled with drama, contrasting with emotive meditative sequences, and a wealth of inventions in terms of melody and tone colour are charateristic features of Raichl's other orchestral compositions, too. This holds particularly true of his two sinfoniettas for chamber orchestra which - making use of a much smaller space and instrumental set-up - succeeded in putting across, though in a more concise form, a musical message similar to that offered by the larger Second Symphony. In "Five Dance Phantasies" the composer applied various melodic and rhythmic elements of modern dance music. Raichl's symphonic suita for children, entitled "An Afternoon in the Zoo", reflects his interest in and preoccupation with the world of children. In actual fact, he has so far dedicated to children many of his choral and instrumental works which - in spíte of their occasional technical simplicity or easiness - are suitable for concert performance.

As far as operas are concerned, following his youthfully romantic work, "Fuente Ovejuna", Raichl composed two one-act operas to a libretto by Czech satirist Jiří R. Pick whose texts the composer also used for a number of choral works. Raichl's inclination to humour finds its expression in works composed to verses by Václav Fischer and Erich Sojka as well as other compositions without words.

Since the early days of his career, Raichl's flair for melody has predisposed him to vocal music which figures most prominently among his works. After songs for choirs which carried an important social message Miroslav Raichl composed the successful cycle of female choirs, entitled "Verses Written on Water" and based on old Japanese poetry, and then won a great many awards at the Jirkov nationwide competition of compositions for children's choirs, the Jihlava competition of choral music and numerous laurels abroad, including the first prize from Tours in 1973 for his cycle of female choirs "C'est mon coeur, qui bat" and in the following year the first prize in the OIRT (International Radio and Television Or ganisation) competition in Budapest for his "Three Fairy Tales" for children's choir. Equally popular are Raichl's numerous choral arrangements of folk songs.

Generally speaking, in his works Miroslav Raichl is known to proceed from and reflect contemporary life, drawing from it his inspiration and discovering new view­points of ordinary things, of the world of adults and children alike. His music is firmly grounded in the Czech tradition, which Raichl has always succeeded in promoting, while composing music which is comprehensible to audiences and mostly technically accessible to performing artists.

SELECTED WORKS

Orchestral Compositions

Second Symphony (1960), ČHF, Pa, o Su
Symphonic Triptych (1975)
Seven Inventions for Orchestra (1966), ČHF
Five Miniatures for Strings (1966), ČHF
An Afternoon in the Zoo. A symphonic suita for children (1970), ČHF
Five Dance Phantasies for Orchestra (1970)
Sinfonietta for Chamber Orchestra (1977), ČHF, o Pa
Second Sinfonietta for Chamber Orchestra (1984), ČHF, o Pa
Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra (1986), o Pa

Chamber Music

Second Piano Sonata (1961) ČHF
Five Inventions for Clarinet and Harp (1968)
Sonata for Four-Handed Piano (1977), ČHF, Su
Indiscretions for Piano (1982). CHF 10'
Divertimento for String Quartet (1983) 10'
Moravian Ballad for Organ (1988) 8'

Instructional Compositions

Seven Ideas for Violoncello and Piano (1971). CHF, SU 9'
Ten Ditties for an Instrument in C and Piano (1973), CHF 12'
Simple Melodies for Violin and Piano (1975), CHF, Pa 10'
Sonatina for Accordion (1978), CHF, SU 8'
Two Times Ten. Piano compositions for smaller and bigger pianists (1978), Pa 18'
Six Duettinos for Two Violins (1978), Su 6'
Sonatina for Violin and Piano (1979), CHF 8'

Songs

Three songs to words by Nicolas Guilén for baritone, flute, clarinet, double-bass, piano, guitar and percussion instruments (1963, a piano version 1988) 11'
A Swan Has Flown Over Here. A cycle of songs for soprano and piano to folk texts (1981), Pa 12'
A Farewell Elegy. A concerto aria for soprano and orchestra to words by Ovid (1982), o Su 18'
Through Bluish Haze. Three songs to words by Anna Akhmatova for soprano and piano (1983) 12'
A Nezval Textbook. Songs for bass and piano to words by Vítezslav Nezval (1967 -1988) 18'
Songs to folk texts for various voices and piano (1986-88) 20'
Singing into Darkness. A cycle of songs for soprano and piano to words by Václav Fischer (1988) 10'
Three Little Elegies. A cycle of songs for bass and piano to words by Oldřich Wenzl, Jiří Suchý and Josef Bruckner (1988) 9'

Children's Choirs

Frost the Grinder. Children's choir with piano accompaniment to words by Zdeněk Kriebel (1964), Muzgiz Moscow, Pa
Johnny's Animals, Ghosts and Piggies. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Jiří R. Pick (1966)
How Are We Faring, What Are We Sharing. A cycle of childrens's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Erich Sojka (1970), Pa
Rhymed Cachalots and Other Animals. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Erich Sojka (1970), CHF
Hubbub. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Erich Sojka (1970), Su
An Amusing Theory (I). A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Erich Sojka (1971), Su, Mersburger Verlag
An Amusing Theory (II). A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Erich Sojka (1971)
Ten Songs from Jenda Benda's Record-player. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by Jiří R. Pick (1971), CHF
Five-fingered Songs for One-voice Singing and Piano (for kindergartens) to words by Jiří R. Pick (1973)
Three Little Fairy-Tales, for children's choir and piano to words by Václav Fischer (1972), Musica Budapest
A Merry Mini-zoo. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by R. Desnos (1973)
Requiem for Lidice. A children's choir with piano accompaniment to words by V. Fischer (1973), Pa
Ten Slovak Folk Songs for Three Children's (Girls') Voices (1973) CHF
Divertimento (without words) for children's choir a cappella (1974)
Songs for Our Doggie. A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by J. R. Pick (1977)
Stories About Johnnie and Annie, for children's choir a cappella to words from folk poetry (1978)
Who's Courting the Sea Waves? A cycle of children's choirs with piano accompaniment to words by V. Fischer (1983), ČHF

Female Choirs

Verses Written on Water, to words from Japanese pentastichs with piano accompaniment (1961), ČHF
Somebody Played the Oboe, to words by Karel Hlaváček, a cappella (1966)
Three Ends of Love, to poems by Jacques Prévert, a cappella (1973), o Su
Five Canzonets to Old Japanese Poetry, a cappella (1978)
A Beautiful Rose, to words by Vítězslav Nezval, a cappella (1979)
Peace, to words by Josef Hora, a cappella (1988)

Mixed Choirs a Cappella

Loving Without Meeting, to words by an anonymous old Czech poet (1970)
Five Mixed Choirs to words by Jiří R. Pick (1973), ČHF
Seasonal Vagaries. Mixed choirs to words by Václav Fischer (1974)
Six Madrigals to words by Jiří R. Pick (1978), ČHF
On Futile Happiness. Mixed choir to words by 18th century anonymous Czech poet (1986), ČHF
The Fragrance of Home. Mixed choirs to words by Václav Fischer (1987)

Cantata

A Historic Picture. A cantata for soprano, tenor, mixed choir and symphony orchestra to texts by medieval anonymous Czech poets and by J. A. Komenský - Comenius (1984-86)

Operas

Fuente Ovejuna. A full-length opera after Lope de Vega (1957)
A Soccer Opera, to a libretto by Jiří R. Pick (1970)
A Weekend House Opera, to a libretto by Jiří R. Pick (1974)


Music Publishers and Libraries

ČHFCzech Music Fund,
110 00 Praha 1, Besední 487
e-mail: info@hudebnifond.cz
PaPanton, Publishing House of the Czech Music Fund
150 00 Praha 5, Radlická 99
telefon (420) 251 555 997
fax (420) 251 553 982
e-mail: chf-phm@cbox.cz
SuSupraphon Publishing House,
110 00 Praha 1, Palackého 1,
Tel.: (+420) 221 966 666,
fax: (+420) 221 966 630,
e-mail: supraphon@bonton.cz
ogramophone record


Source: Music Information Centre of ČHF, 1990

The Life and Work of Miroslav Raichl